Fact or Bluff? Davao City Mayor Duterte for President in 2016

“Davao City Mayor Duterte for president in 2016” draws confusion to people as to whether it is already confirmed or not.

Two days ago, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte publicized his potential to run for president in 2016 just to fight back against the attacks being thrown to him particularly by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and former Commission on Human Rights chairwoman Etta Rosales.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte

In an interview with ABS-CBN, Duterte said that if the charges pertaining to the Davao Death Squad incident would be filed against him, he would consider running for president in 2016. And if by chance he got the highest position in the government, all the criminals should hide themselves away especially those who are using their positions to commit crimes and corruption.

Duterte also warned de Lima and Rosales that he will continue exposing controversies linked to them.

It has been reported recently that Davao City Mayor Duterte admitted his connection to the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS), a vigilante group who is purportedly engaged in extra judicial killings. The group is allegedly doing summary executions, wherein they killed numbers of people engaged in crimes and drugs in Davao City without ‘full and fair’ trial. Reports said that the group is responsible for the lost of over 1,000 people between the years of 1998 and 2000.

Mayor Duterte later retracted his admission and said that the DDS or the group he was talking about was the Davao Development System.

Former house speaker Prospero Boy Nograles and Duterte’s long time political rival commented saying, “the position of Duterte is a shameful public indictment and public accusation of the miserable failure of government in the peace and order problem. [If] peace and order was handled well,he will not be popular.”

Is there a possibility for “Davao City Mayor Duterte for President in 2016?”

Although he is vocal about his action-plan if he becomes President of the Philippines, Duterte otherwise stated in the later part of the interview, “I’m not interested to become a President. I’m 70 years old. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to retire from public life.”

But according to him he is still waiting for enlightenment. He even asked his supporters to wait for his decision.

“I’ve always said that God will somehow enlighten me. I’ve been asking, I’ve been praying: ‘God, I do not like it. I do not need it. Pag ginusto mo, you give me a cause to do it,” Duterte said.

Although the “Duterte for President” in 2016 is not clear yet, a 30 second video ad of Duterte with caption ‘Tapang at Malasakit’ started to circulate online. This has strengthened the rumors for some, that the Davao City Mayor will really run for president in 2016.

A political analyst Prof. Prospero de Vera sees that the Davao City Mayor Duterte’s ratings would most likely increase by 4% at the Pulse Asia Survey. He also said that aside from Mindanao, Duterte is also gaining supporters from Visayas region despite the criticisms.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is known for having fearless mouth and strict law implementation in his district. It is also said that people engaged in drugs have no place in Davao City throughout his leadership. Those are the reasons why he is starting to gain pulses from people in the Philippines.

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About The Author

A full-time accountant in a commercial bank and part-time contributor to iWeb.ph, rsmercado is also an MBA student in one of the schools in Makati. With wide range of interest, she tries the line of blogging. She loves travelling and exploring things beyond her comfort zone.